In the discussion of the state of the art that follows, reference is made to certain structures and/or methods. However, the following references should not be construed as an admission that these structures and/or methods constitute prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to demonstrate that such structures and/or methods do not qualify as prior art against the present invention.
An absorbent garment is known from EP-A-0 532 035 for example. The purpose of the diaper in EP-A-0 532 035 is to provide adjustment means able to adapt to a large range of wearer sizes such that one single garment size of garment will fit a user during his/her various stages of growth. To this end, in one embodiment, two wide strips of loop material are attached onto the frontal waist portion of the garment with only a slight spacing therebetween. The width of the strips, as seen from the top edge of the garment towards the middle of the garment, is such that they occupy substantially the entire frontal waist portion, in order to fulfil their purpose.
Fastening of the diaper in EP-A-0 532 035 around the user's waist is performed by attaching strips of cooperating hook elements positioned on the inner surface of the garment (i.e. the surface of the diaper in contact with the skin) to either the top or the bottom frontal loop strip only. As disclosed, when the user is small only the lower frontal strip is used whilst the upper one is folded away inwardly inside the garment. When the user is larger, the frontal waist portion is folded out and the hook elements are to be attached to the upper frontal strip.
The slight spacing between the frontal waist strips provides better folding characteristics of the garment in the frontal waist portion to fit the various sizes of users, since it provides a convenient folding denotation (i.e. a line about which folding can take place). In an alternative embodiment, the two frontal strips can be replaced by an even wider continuous strip with no gap, although clearly no pre-defined folding denotation will be present.
The use of the wide strip portions in EP-A-0 532 035 allows adaptation to the size of a user and allows repeated reclosability of said garment. However there are serious drawbacks in that a large amount of material is required for the frontal strips in order to achieve the desired purpose. Such use of wide loop material strips constitutes a costly factor in the production of a diaper, especially when considering that the diaper of EP-A-0 532 035 is a diaper of the disposable type and that only one of the two frontal strips will be used at any one time, thus leaving the other strip obsolete. The use of the loop material in this way makes disposable diapers of this type uneconomical.
Additionally, when attempting to release one part of the attachment means (e.g. the co-acting hook element strip) from the other (e.g. the loop element) for re-adjustment or removal, the user is unable to access the area between the co-acting strips. Since the wearer, or an assistant who is fitting the garment to the wearer, cannot gain access in this way, it is not possible to apply a substantially normal (i.e. perpendicular) separating force between the two strip elements. Instead, an edge of the garment itself must be grasped proximate the location of the strip and an oblique force component applied in order to achieve separation. Not only does this mean that there must be a sufficient margin of garment material around the strip to be able to grasp it, but also the oblique force applied for separation has to be kept lower than the attachment force of the strips to the garment itself, otherwise tearing will occur. This problem can thus present significant design difficulties since a predetermined attachment force must be arranged between the cooperating strips.
The main underlying problem of the present invention relates to reducing the amount of strip attachment material which is required on the waist portion of the garment whilst providing a high degree of stability in the waist region when the front and rear waist portions are attached together. At the same time, it is important that the diaper should be adjustable to a certain range of user sizes and that the cooperating attachment strips should allow attachment and re-attachment (i.e. reclosability) when fitting.
A further problem is to provide an improved separability between the cooperating strips such that the danger of tearing of the garment is reduced.